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Introduction
The world trade organization (WTO) was established on 1st
January 1995 due to the reason of the Uruguay Round of multi trade negotiations
concluded in 1994.
The predecessor of WTO is General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT). WTO is an International body dealing with the rules of trade among states and separate customs
territories. The agreements in WTO provide the legal ground-rules for
international trade and commerce. They are mainly contracts, binding
governments to conduct their trade and trade policies according to principles
and rules. Although negotiated and signed by governments, the goal is to help
producers of goods and services, exporters and importers over the Globe and
bringing them under one roof.
The International body has over 148 members as on October 13,2004 accounting for 90% of the world
trade and around 30 others are negotiating membership and are WTO observers.
Objectives of WTO
With manifold objectives like helping trade flow smoothly, freely, fairly and predictably it
has become capable of organizing trade and commerce over the Globe through the
mantra of liberalization, privatization and globalization. It is stepping
forward with objectives like:
1) Rejecting all forms of protectionism.
2) Removing trade barriers and eliminating discriminatory treatment in international trade
through successive multilateral trade negotiations.
3) Providing a fair, predictable and open rule-based trading system through overseeing the
implementation of multilateral trade rules and enforcing legally binding
obligations.
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4) Providing a mechanism for settling trade disputes.
5) Integrates developing and least developed economies into the world trading system.
Structure of WTO: -
WTO is run by its member nations. Decisions are taken by consensus among entire member
nations.
The WTO's top-level decision-making body is the ministerial conference, which meets at least once
in every two years.
Below this is the general council (normally represented
by ambassadors and heads of delegation in Geneva, but sometimes officials sent
from members' capitals), which meets several times a year in Geneva. The
General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Body and the Dispute
Settlement Body.
At the next level
there are three Councils each handling a different broad area of trade - the
Council for Trade in Goods (Goods Council), the Council for Trade in Services
(Services Council), and the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS Council).
There are also specialized committees,
working groups and working parties dealing with the individual agreements and
other areas such as the environment, development, membership applications and
regional trade agreements. They regularly report to the General Council, Goods
Council and Services Council as appropriate.
The WTO secretariat in Geneva has around 600 staffs and is headed by a director general. The WTO
Secretariat's main duties are to provide administrative support for the running
of the system.
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